I am from Westmount, and proud of that fact. We are a hardworking community with young families, simply trying to stay together.

Most of the funding for this research comes from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities specifically for this type of study. Why shouldn’t we use it? Other municipalities in Canada will be doing the same with their grant money.

We are not taking clothes off of people’s backs and we are not taking food from the food banks simply by using the funding available for this study. Those are areas that desperately need our attention, but through ongoing financial assistance. We need to put more money into our economy and help those less fortunate, but the $30,000 for the feasibility study will not do it.

A ferry to North Sydney is not a bad idea, but there is already active transportation from North Sydney to Sydney. There is none from Westmount to Sydney. And soon, our bridge from Sydney River to Westmount will be closed for an extended period of time.

Westmount has lots of potential for tourists. The Canadian Coast Guard College and Petersfield Provincial Park are two draws.

Plenty of people from Sydney drive to Petersfield to go for a walk. Imagine if you could leave your car parked in Sydney, enjoy a beautiful ferry service to Westmount, and continue on to Petersfield.

Westmount is a dynamic and family-oriented community, which has lost several forms of public transportation over the years. My own grandfather, Ossie Fraser, fought about 30 years ago to have a bridge from Westmount to Sydney. A bridge may not be feasible with the dredging of the harbour and its possibilities, but a ferry sure sounds good to me.

Comments

Comments

Your name*Email*Comment*

Recent comments

Brian Fraser

November 27, 2012 - 22:12

A ferry from Sydney to Westmount, yes it could be a nice trip in the summer. But once you got there what do you do. Ah, stop at the Yacht Club for a beer, then walk 2 Km for a walk around Petersfield. Don't take me wrong, I takes my dogs to Petersfield twice a day for a walk and I enjoy every minute of it. I played there as a kid and I still cannot get enough of the palce.As for tourists at the Coast Guard College, well not sure that would be a big hit. The last tourist they had there was Rick Mercer.
A ferry service from Sydney to Westmount , has nothing to do with how hard the people is Westmount work. The only question is it feesibale? Yes Westmount is a dynamic and family-oriented area, much like all other areas in Cape Breton.
Jennifer I just wish that you would not use my father name to try to prove your point of view.
Brian Fraser

Jennifer is right, at this stage it is only a study. I suspect the result is that a Westmount-Sydney service is not feasible given the low population density on the Westmount side. How many people live in Westmount and work in downtown Sydney? Of those, how many people are willing to take the ferry to/from work daily? How frequent would this service need to be to attract regular users (eg: once an hour, once every thirty minutes, etc.). This could only be a seasonal service as the arm may (no longer certain) freeze over in winter. Would a seasonal service attract a core group of users? There are so many factors to consider. Would this area be better served by Transit Cape Breton? If a Transit Cape Breton route is not feasible, why would a ferry service be feasible? Personally, I'm neither for nor against a ferry service, I'll form an opinion based on the proposed study. I hope people like Jennifer will do the same (Jennifer, do not take this personally, this is not an attack on you or Westmount. We just need to see the study before forming an educated opinion.).

“Most of the funding for this research comes from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities specifically for this type of study. Why shouldn’t we use it? Other municipalities in Canada will be doing the same with their grant money.”
This is where I have a problem. The attitude seems to be that the money is there to be spent, so let’s just spend it. Whether it is money out of CBRM pockets or not, it is still public money that should not be wasted on a very dubious study.

If the money comes from the Federal coffers, and is earmarked for this purpose, Ottawa won't take it back and re-allocate it. Therefore, let's use it for its intended (albeit misguided) purpose and determine if our municipality can benefit from this service?

John Landry

November 26, 2012 - 08:13

Back in the day,those Westmount residents that were foolsh and daring enough even crossed the Harbour in the winter time.